Future Me

The future me is going to own a large house, possibly an apartment building. The rooms are there for artists who need retreats. Mostly writers. The retreats can be for a few weeks or a few years.

A garden. A communal space. Lots of quiet. It should feel like Rivendell, if it was a real place and in our world, in the here and now. You shouldn’t feel like you’ve stepped back in time when you enter. You should feel present, in the present.

The place has good smells. It feels of care, and comfort. Beauty. An energizing place for the hearts that know that calm and simple is often more energetic than a star.

This is one of the places my future self dwells. I just have to help him get there. And someday, I’ll be him, and he’ll be me, and I’ll remember the moment I wrote this, and smile, as I look at someone kindly and say,

“Welcome.”

Related talks & stories

Fred speaking on this

Why he stopped celebrating his birthday, and what nearly thirty years of strange, sudden loss taught him about staying alive.

A childhood nighttime visitor, a phrase he didn’t understand until years later, and a piece of his family’s history he didn’t know he was carrying.

Personal storytelling in community organizing contexts, using Guide to Creating a Brave Space.

Everyone’s story has value — the smaller, gentler stories of our own lives, no less than the great stories of survival.

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